June 26, 2018. Today, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed an injunction blocking the enforcement of the travel ban, affirming the executive’s broad power to make immigration policy. While the decision is disappointing for many, including the Iranian American organizations who challenged the travel ban in U.S. District Court last year, the decision was limited to the question of whether the policy violated the law. A separate question remains whether the Trump Administration implemented the policy in a discriminatory manner, creating a separate and inherently unequal immigration system for Iranians and individuals from Muslim countries. Read our full statement.

March 2018. The Iranian American Bar Association, Pars Equality center, and Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans submitted an amicus (friend of the court) brief to the United States Supreme Court. Using statistical and anecdotal evidence, the brief shows that the waiver system constructed by the third travel ban is a separate and inherently unequal alternative to the visa process. The extremely high visa rejection rate due to the third travel ban has inflicted hardship on countless individuals, including many U.S. citizens and other individuals with bona fide relationships to the United States.

December 2017. The U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stays on the Trump Administration’s Travel Ban 3.0, allowing it to go into effect in its entirety while the legal challenges to Travel Ban make their way through lower courts. While the ruling is very disappointing, it does not decide whether the travel ban is lawful.

To read a joint statement by the Iranian American Bar Association, Pars Equality Center, and Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans regarding the Supreme Court’s ruling, click here.

October 2017. The Pars Equality Center, Iranian American Bar Association, and Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, along with over ten individuals, filed a joint action to challenge President Trump’s third travel ban (Proclamation of September 24, 2017), and subsequently updated their filing to challenge President Trump’s third refugee ban (Executive Order of October 24, 2017 and DHS/DOS/DOI Memorandum of October 23, 2017). The filed papers are located on the Court Filings page of this website. The court in Washington, DC held a hearing on November 2, 2017 and has not yet issued a ruling.

September 2017. The Pars Equality Center, Iranian American Bar Association, National Iranian American Council, and Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court for consideration in its upcoming case on the travel ban. An amicus is a “friend of the court” brief that advises the court of additional relevant information or arguments to assist the court in making its decision. The organizations’ amicus brief brings to the Supreme Court’s attention the devastating impact of the travel ban on the Iranian-American community, highlighting the stories of individuals as well as the front-line service of the organizations.

The amicus brief can be found here as well as on the “court filings” page of this website. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the travel ban case on October 10, 2017, and will issue a decision thereafter.

April 2017: The first hearing in the case, during which representatives of the Iranian-American organizations testified, took place in federal court in Washington, D.C. on April 18th, 2017 at 2 pm. The second hearing, which consisted of oral argument by the attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Government, was held on April 21st, 2017.

On March 15th, 2017, the four Iranian-American organizations as well as a number of individuals filed an amended complaint in federal court to halt enforcement of the March 6th Executive Order.

On January 27th, 2017, the White House issued an executive order from President Trump titled “PROTECTING THE NATION FROM FOREIGN TERRORIST ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES”.

On February 8th, 2017, several prominent Iranian-American organizations filed a joint action in federal court to stop the Trump Administration’s Executive Order restricting travel to and from the United States and Iran and six other predominantly Muslim nations.

The Iranian-American community has been significantly and adversely impacted by the travel ban. Iran had the largest total number of legal entrants into the U.S. (310,182) between 2006 and 2015; two-thirds of those entrants arrived in the United States on temporary visas. Of the 90,000 visas issued annually to the seven countries singled out by the EO, almost half (42,542) are from Iran.